Dead Hearts Still Beat
by Dasati
Summary: You've changed. The world has changed. But are those you once loved still the same? Short OneShot about a member of the Forsaken


AN- Just a quick one fic about one of the Forsaken. Unfortunatly, I don't own WoW, all that's mine is the story and the characters. Ty to my Beta reader Rach :D

* * *

With a last disgusted glance, Carlin turned his back on the Undercity and strode purposefully into the night. He was not like them, he told himself, he did not hate the living, the forsaken, as they called themselves, were not his people. His thoughts drifted as he walked through the corrupted, decaying Tirisfal Glades, his memories were still fresh of a time when he had known nothing but joy and peace, a time when his reflection in a mirror did not disgust him.

He had been just 17 years old when the plague struck him down. Living with his family in the town of Brill, he had not been a particularly handsome boy, at best he could have been described as average, but he was content with his life. He was apprenticed to the town's apothecary, learning where to find herbs and how to brew them into a potion which would achieve a desired effect. When not under the wise old apothecary's patient tutelage, he spent every waking moment of free time with his love, Elayne. They had both felt the sting of the bowman's arrow from the moment his earthy-brown eye's met her cobalt blue ones.

Theirs had been a chance meeting.One summer afternoon in his 15th year, Carlin had been sent by his master to gather herbs for a medicinal potion (one of the farmers from the farms outlying the town had fallen ill with a high fever which was being particularly stubborn) and so he had picked up his herb pouch and gone into the Silverpine forest. Carlin had been in the process of delicately removing a patch of silver leaf from the fertile soil, when he was startled by a deer rushing headlong through the clearing and into the bushes beyond and following on the animal's heels was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. Wearing dark green huntsman's clothes, with her golden hair tied back so as not to cover her eye's, Elayne had emerged from the forest. Her bright blue eyes,which scanned the clearing to discern the animal's tracks, widened in shock at the sight of Carlin crouched on the ground.

Carlin's thoughts replayed the following 2 years from that moment. From their first meeting the two had fallen deeply, passionately in love, they spent their days at work; Carlin with his master, Elayne with her father who was a huntsman by trade and with whom she waslearning the ways of tracking and forest survival. They spent their nights and festival days together exploring the forest, Elayne teaching him the rudiments of hunting, whilst he in turn taught her the uses of the numerous herbs they came across. But their happiness was soon interrupted by the coming of the plague. He had later, as a member of the forsaken, learned that the plague had spread via contaminated grain shipments from Andorhal but at the time no one had known its origins. One fine summer day shortly after the end of the midsummer fire festival, citizens of the town began falling ill. Carlin was amongst the last to succumb to the plague, having spent the majority of the time since the first outbreak at his masters side working furiously in a futile attempt to find a cure or even to combat the symptoms of the plague. He knew from experience that those who contracted the plague always died and so it was with abject horror that he realised the first symptoms in himself. Elayne had grieved deeply upon learning her beloved's fate, and it was with a soul deep sadness that she had left with the healthy citizens of the town for Southshore, in the Hillsbrad foothills, where it was hoped by the surviving members of the town's council that those not afflicted by the plague could escape it.

Carlin remembered little of what happened over the following years. He knew that, like countless others, he had risen from the dead and been forced to serve, to be a slave to the Lich king's indomitable will. Beyond that, his memories were shrouded in mist. He remembered the day that Sylvanas Windrunner had broken free of the Lich King's control and taken him, along with the other rebels, into hiding. It was then deep in the Undercity that Carlin had begun to yearn for his past life with a soul deeply longing for the tender embrace of his love. He was unsure how it had come to pass, but his former training as an apothecary had been discovered and he had been pressed into service with the Royal Apothecary Society. It was within this group that he learned of the Banshee queen's desire to brew a new, far more deadly plague that would infect living and undead alike. His mind had reeled in utter disbelief and revulsion at the Dark Lady's plan and he had made the decision to depart from these twisted, hate filled souls and go in search of his lost love. He knew Elayne. He muttered to himself as he passed through the once lush, verdant forest now a rotting decaying shadow of its former existence. Their love had burned fiercely in both their hearts, each feeling as though the other was a part of their very being. She would accept him back, she would be able to look past his now grotesque appearance and see the inner beauty of the boy she had loved so passionately, he knew it!

It was with a heart filled with hope and a mind dreaming fantasies of a joyful reunion that Carlin approached Southshore. The town was fairly large and was just coming to life in the amber rays of the morning sun. Those with businesses to open were moving sleepily around the town, calling soft greetings to one another so as not to wake those who had yet to rise. Carlin had begun to make his way down into the town when he was struck dumb in shock; striding out of a small house in the centre of town, was Elayne! She had only grown more beautiful as she had matured, her golden hair falling down her back, framing an angelic face, with a smile which still caused his breath to catch in his throat. Her body moved with the lean, lithe grace of a natural hunter as she eased through the town, smiling and nodding in greeting to those she passed. Recovering from his initial shock, Carlin's heart soared at the sight of his beloved and he raced down into the town shouting, '

Elayne my love! It's me, it's Carlin!'

A high pitched scream of sheer terror pierced the calm morning air and all eye's in the square turned to Carlin as he raced into the town. More screams and panicked shouting erupted as women fled in terror and the men bearing arms drew their weapons. Elaynes' eye's widened in fear at the sight of him and, for the briefest of moments, their eye's locked and he knew she had heard his crys and,  
looking deeply into her eyes, his own now an unnatural gold, he saw the glimmer of recognition dawn in her, swiftly replaced by revulsion for what he now was. The realisation froze him mid stride and he tumbled to the ground. As he rose he saw a group of armed men charging towards him and Elayne herself drawing an arrow for her bow. Survival instincts kicked in and he turned and fled, running as fast as he possibly could as he raced for the relative safety of the forest, pursued most of the way by the angry, hate filled mob until they realised they had driven him off and returned to the town.

How could he have been so naive! He railed at himself. How could anyone possibly accept, even love, the monstrous creature he had become! he had been so sure! So sure that Elayne would be able to look past his plague darkened flesh, so sure that she would rejoice at the return of her love. He howled in agony as he lay curled up beneath the blackened trees. He screamed his grief which he felt in the very core of his existence He roared his pain at his lost life, now denied him, forever. Slowly, his grief turned to anger. How dare she! Once he would have willingly given his life for her, but now the very sight of him disgusted her! He began to see now that the forsaken were his people, the only people left to him, the only people who would accept him for what the plague had made him. He rose from the ground, his heart filled with a hatred fuelled by utter fury, hatred for all life, but particularly for his former love. He would return, he decided. He would return to the Undercity and pour his tireless efforts into the creation of a new plague as the Banshee queen desired.

For revenge, for the forsaken, for the dark lady!

* * *

Thanks for reading! Please review! 


End file.
